Nintendo's first ever mobile game is blowing up in Japan

Journalists are silhouetted during Nintendo Co Ltd's news conference in Chiba, east of Tokyo, Oct. 10, 2007. Reuters/Yuriko Nakao The first smartphone title released by declining gaming giant Nintendo has been received positively by early players. Over 1 million people have downloaded Miitomo in its first three days of availability, boosting Nintendo's share value.

Miitomo is currently only available in Japan. It launched on the App Store in Nintendo's home country six days ago and quickly rose towards the top of the charts. Today, Nintendo announced that 1 million people created a Miitomo account within the first three days of the game's launch, counting active users until Saturday afternoon.

The success of the game has helped Nintendo shares to rise significantly today. CTV News reports that the company is currently trading 8.18 percent higher at 16,515 yen. It is still very early in the app's life but initial indications suggest it could help to set Nintendo back on the path to profitability.

In Miitomo, players create and customize avatars that can be used to interact with friends and other players. The avatars can ask questions that make the player divulge details of their life in the real world, such as "What did you do at the weekend?" The responses are visible to other people on the platform and are designed to spark "one-of-a-kind conversations."

The player is also set missions that encourage social interaction. Rewards are issued for connecting with friends or linking social networks to the game, attracting more people to the fledgling platform. "Miitomo definitely feels like it's taking cues from social network games that want players to check in daily," wrote reviews site Kokatu after the game's launch last week.

Miitomo demonstrates that Nintendo is able to divorce itself from its traditional brands and characters while still creating a popular product. Miitomo does not feature any Nintendo household names. Mario and Donkey Kong have yet to make an appearance on mobile devices, suggesting Nintendo has a place in smartphone gaming that isn't reliant on its history.

"They didn't even have to use Mario to get 1 million downloads, a testament to the power of Nintendo's content," said Tomoaki Kawasaki, an analyst at Iwai Cosmo Securities, to Bloomberg. "The next question is how to monetize."

It isn't clear how much money Nintendo is making from Miitomo at the moment. Most players are unlikely to have begun buying in-app purchases for the free-to-play title after only a few days of gameplay. This may not be an issue to Nintendo initially — the company is seeking to get people registered for its new Nintendo Account first — but will be a more serious consideration as the game grows.

Miitomo will expand out of Japan later this month. Nintendo will launch the title in 15 other countries worldwide including the U.S. and U.K., giving international gamers their first look at the company's debut mobile game.